Sherlock Holmes Mysteries for iPad

Even months after the movie has left theaters, it seems Warner Brothers is still looking to cash in on their Sherlock Holmes adaption. Like the stereotypical movie tie-in game, Sherlock Holmes Mysteries for iPad seems like an afterthought and completely disregards the spirit of everybody’s favorite old-school detective. This is one case you should leave to rest.

Two cases are included in the game, the first of which acts as a tutorial of sorts to quickly run over how to play the game and thus is completed in about ten minutes. Once you finish this, there is a much longer case waiting for you that will have Sherlock running around London to find out who killed a scientist and prove the man currently thought to be guilty of the crime innocent. Unfortunately, it’s pretty apparent who the real culprit is minutes into the case, leaving a couple hours of unnecessary scavenging.

Where is the option for groin shot?

As for the gameplay, we can best describe it as overly easy and boring. You stand in the center of each area and swipe your finger left and right to scroll 360 degrees. Once your viewpoint comes in contact with anything of interest, a button will appear at the top and you will enter a dialogue screen. These give you clues that you place together under categories in a pop-up menu. You can simply keep trying out new clues in all of the slots until a piece of the brain lights up, so there isn’t much challenge here.

All too often you are faced with three different minigames. The first is boxing, which consists of tapping buttons when they appear onscreen. There is also a Pipe Mania-like lock picking game and a ‘hidden object’ game, where you drag a magnifying glass over an object or person and tap any icons that pop up. If you want, you can play the boxing game in a separate mode, where you fight increasingly challenging competitors, but you likely won’t want to keep playing this game after finishing the main case.

Robert Downey Jr has never looked so… bad.

For such a visually oriented game the graphics are poor, with choppy environments and very low-res textures that combine into quite an eyesore. That said, the detail put into each character model is impressive. We instantly recognized Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law.

After playing Sherlock Holmes Mysteries for iPad, we’ve come to the conclusion that it’s time for Warner Brothers to lay off this franchise until they release a sequel. Without his witty personality and ability to crack the most convoluted cases, Holmes is a dud.

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